Insertable hinge mounting structure



June 3, 1952 v. J. CATALANO INSERTABLE HINGE MOUNTING STRUCTURE Filed April 11, 1950 Inventor" Victor" J. Catalano His At torfi ey.

Patented June 3, 1952 UNITED ST NT FFICIE Victor J. Catalano, Upper Darby; Pa, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation or New York Application April 11, 1950, Serial No. 155,303

2 Claims.

' or body, so as to provide a central axis of oscilla tion therefor inside the opening.

Another object is to provide the improved insertable hinge structure with a supporting post having one end suitably formed for mounting on a fixed base member and the other end provided with a neck so that it can be loosely encircled by a pair of opposing hinge elements held together in abutting relation by a bearing pin passing through the end of the post above the neck and with the abutting hinge elements formed for joint insertion into an opening in the trip rocker or other part to be pivotally mounted on the bearing pin inside the opening.

Another object is to provide the abutting hinge elements that encircle the bearing end of the hinge post with bendable projections for fixedly holding these elements in place after insertion of the encircling hinge elements into the opening or hole in the rocker or other oscillatin part that is to be pivotally mounted.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description of the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a partial plan view of a moulded base circuit breaker having a trip rocker bar pivotally mounted by means of the improved insertable hinge mounting structure of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the dash-dot line 22 showing more clearly how one end of the improved insertable hinge structure may be mounted on the fixed base preferably by staking and the other end inserted in a mounting opening formed in the trip rocker bar; and Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing more clearly the structural details of the hinge post as well as the pair of opposing hinge elements that loosely encircle the head end of the hinge post above the neck and are held together by the pivot pin for insertion into the opening in the part to be pivotally mounted.

As shown in Fig. 1, the circuit breaker is provided with a trip rocker bar 10, preferably of moulded insulating material, that is pivotally 2 mounted by means of the improved insertable hinge mounting structure ll of the present in vention. In this way, rocker bar I0 is. mounted on the base i2 moulded of insulating material to he rocked or oscillated by the armature i3that is pivotally mounted on the bearing pin I l for attraction towards the pole facev it of the tripping electromagnet. The armature l3 is provided with the fingers l8 that extend on one side of the axis pin 3| of the mountin hinge i I so as to rock or oscillate the trip bar It from its inclined position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 upon attraction of the armature l3. When such rocking or oscillation occurs, the circuit breaker latch arm I9 shown in Fig. 2 is released from other parts of the breaker mechanism not shown so as thereby to effect the opening of the circuit breaker.

As more clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the improved insertable hinge mounting structure of the present invention includes a hinge post 23. having one end provided with suitable means for mounting the post on the base l2, preferably with the serrated edges 24 and 25 and the yield slot 28 so as to enable the post to be readily staked into a suitable opening 21 formed in the moulded base l2 in the usual manner. The lateral wings 28 and 28 limit the depth of insertion of the serrated end of the post 23 and provide additional lateral stability. So far as the present invention is concerned, the post 23 may be mounted or secured to the base 12 in any suitable manner and a way found satisfactory in practice is to use the common staking arrangement. The other end of the hinge post 23 is provided with a cylindrical bearing opening 30 for the hinge pin 3| beyond the neck 29. i

A pair of complementary semi-oval movable hinge elements 32 and 33 are formed so as to loosely encircle the hinge pin bearing end of the hinge post 23 beyond the neck 29 and are provided with suitable openings 3i and 35 for receiving the hinge pin 3! therein so that the ends of the hinge pin 31 can be riveted over and thereby secure the opposing semi-oval movable hinge elements 32 and 33 together in loose encircling relation with the free end of the hinge post 23 beyond the neck 29. The complementary pair of movable hinge elements 32 and 33 are formed for insertion into the oval hole or opening 38 moulded or otherwise formed in the trip rocker or bar [0 and thus enable the hinge pin 3| to form a central axis inside the opening 38 for free oscillation or rocking of the trip rocker bar I0 as far as permitted by the neck 29. Each of the movable hinge elements 32 and 33 is provided with an outwardly bent over lug 36 on its bottom edge so as thereby to limit the insertion of these movable hinge parts into the opening 38 formed in the trip bar [0. Thereafter the lugs 3'! are bent over so as to fixedly secure the movable complementary hinge elements 32, 33 in the oval shaped opening 38 moulded in the trip bar l0. Normally the movable hinge elements 32 and 33 are first mounted in the oval opening 38 in the trip bar It with two or more of the improved insertable hinge mounting structures distributed lengthwise for supporting the trip bar I0. Then the hinge post 23 is driven into or staked in the base l2 by applying a driving tool to the notch 39 formed in the upper end of the post 23.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, an oscillatable part having an opening formed therein, a base, a hinge post having one end fixed on the base and a hinge pin bearing formed in the other end thereof, a pair of movable hinge elements formed for insertion in opposing relation into the opening in the oscillatable part to loosely encircle the bearing end of the hinge post and provided with means for fixedly securing the elements in the opening and a hinge pin extending through the bearin for holding the movable hinge elements in opposing 4 relation and thereby pivotally supporting the part for oscillation.

2. In combination, a circuit breaker trip rocker having an opening formed therein, a hinge post having one end provided with a neck and having a hinge pin bearing formed in the end thereof beyond the neck, a pair of movable semi-oval hinge elements of complementary form for insertion in opposing relation into the opening in the trip rocker and provided with bendable lugs for fixedly securing the movable hinge elements in the opening, and a hinge pin extending through the bearing in the post for holding the semi-oval hinge elements in opposing abutting relation and thereby pivotally supporting the trip rocker for oscillation on the post.

VICTOR J. CATALANO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 163,838 Baker June 1, 1875 593,172 Bailey Nov. 2, 1897 1,324,377 Bicknell Dec. 9, 1919 

